Floor-maintenance machines



c: [rin NOV. 20, 1962 G, T, FiLLERY 3,064,292

FLOOR-MAINTENANCE MACHINES Filed Nov. 6, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 2o,1962 G, T, FILLERY 3,064,292

FLOOR-MAINTENANCE MACHINES Filed NOV. 6, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Unitedtates This invention relates to hoor-maintenance machines by which ismeant machines for scrubbing, polishing, sanding and similarly treatingiioors of oiiices, warehouses, factories and so on.

According to this invention a door-maintenance machine comprises acasing, an electric motor carried by the casing, a vertical shaft drivenby the motor, an eccentric secured to Ithe shaft and a carrier 4for afloormaintenance element, mounted on the eccentric for free rotationthereabout. With this arrangement the carrier (and the floor-maintenanceelement-eg. an abrasive disc, polishing pad, scrubbing brush--on thecarrier) performs a circular movement which is selected to be of quitesmall radius with the result that, without toothed or similar gearingbetween the motor and the carrier, the power required to drive thecarrier during cleaning is greatly reduced compared with known cleanershaving non-eccentric, rotary cleaning elements. Thus, a machineaccording to this invention is of simple construction and of smallweight.

The invention may be performed in various ways and the construction ofone machine according to the invention will now be described, merely byway of eX- ample. The description is made with reference to theaccompanying drawings whereof:

FIG. 1 is a sectional elevation of the machine,

`JE'iG. 2 is a plan View ofthe machine of FIG. l,

PIG. 3 is an inverted plan view of the machine of FIG. 1, showing onlycertain parts of the machine,

FIG. 4 is a perspective View of the machine of FIG. l, and

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4, showing a modiiication.

Referring to the drawings: the machine comprises a casing, generallyindicated at 10, an electric motor 11 within a housing carried by thecasing and a vertical shaft 12 driven by the motor. The motor housing isupstanding from the casing and provides a marginal ledge 9. A handle 13is pivotally attached t0 the casing so that the machine may be movedacross the oor for cleaning.

The shaft 12 is supported in ball bearings 14, 15 and the lower end ofthe shaft projects through an end 16 of a housing 17 of the motor. A fanrotor 18 carrying fan blades 18a is secured to the projecting end of theshaft for rotation within a fan housing 19 having an outlet 29 whichreceives a removable dust bag 21 in known manner. As shown in thedrawing, the fan rotor 13 is of dish shape and of smaller diameter thanthe housing 19.

The housing 19 has a lower wall 22 of conical shape spaced from the fanrotor 18 and providing a lower housing wall for the fan blades 18a andhaving a central opening 23 through which shaft 12 extends. Air is drawnthrough opening 23 from a space 24 (deiined by skirt 25 of casing 19)and is discharged through outlet 2Q into bag 21. It will be noted thatthe fan blades operate within an annular duct formed between the fanrotor 1S and the conical wall 22 to drive the air into an annular spacesurrounding the fan and from which it is ydischarged into bag 21 throughopening 20.

The fan rotor 18 is concentric upon shaft 12 and a circular boss 26projects from the lower face of the fan rotor, the boss 26 beingeccentric with respect to shaft 12. A ball bearing 27 is carried by boss26 and a card arent ice rier 28 is mounted for free rotation on bearing27. Thus, the carrier 28 is eccentric, and freely rotatable, on shaft12.

A floor-maintenance element (e.g. the brush 29 shown in FIG. 4) isremovably attached to the carrier 28, for instance, the brush bristlesare secured to a bristle holder having a tapering hole so that theholder is a push t on the tapering face 30.

A weight 3-1 is secured .to the fan rotor 18 to counter balance theeccentric carrier 28 and the brush 29 or other element.

The casing 10 comprises a generally at top portion 5i! and the skirtportion 25 which depends from the top. The motor 11 comprises a housing51 having a part 52 integral with top portion 50 and upstandingtherefrom and a part 53 secured to part 52 and depending from top 50 sothat about one-half of the motor is contained within the skirted portionof casing 10.

The fan rotor 18 extends in greater part axially along the dependingpart 53 of the motor housing 51 while the annular wall 22 is downwardlydirected from skirt 25 to extend in part axially of the fan rotor 18.

With the described disposition of casing 10, motor 1,1, fan rotor y18and wall 22 the motor is placed very low in relation to the casingdespite the provision of the fan rotor 18--which tends to increase theheight of the motor. The motor (as is well known) is a very heavy bodyand by arranging the weight of the motor to be low in relation to thecasing the stability of the apparatus in use is enhanced.

'The polishing or other door-maintenance element carried by carrier 28is in part within chamber 24 i.e. can be alongside Wall 22 furtherassisting in height reduction.

`In use: having secured the brush 29 to carrier 28, the brush 29projecting below skirt 25, the motor 11 when energized will drive shaft12 and carrier 28 therefore has imparted to it by shaft 12 (due to theeccentric mounting 26, 27) a rotary movement of radius r of FIG. 3-theradius of eccentricity of boss 26. Thus, the brush 29 will rotate at thesame speed as motor 11 but each part of the brush will perform acircular path of radius r. As the radius is small the motor 11 can be ofsmall horse power while the brush may be driven at a relatively highspeed.

The weight 31 is removable and replaceable by a larger or smallerweight. In this way Hoor-maintenance elements of different size andweight and of diiferent materials may be appropriately counter-balanced.Instead of or in addition to, replacement of the weight 31 the lattermay be adjustable to vary its radius of action.

For light operations on the oor (e.g. polishing) the Weight of themachine described is sufcient to apply the polishing brush or pad to thefloor with the required pressure. For heavy operations (eg. scrubbing,abrading or sanding) the weight of the machine alone may not besuilicient. Additional weight is provided by a member 32 which issecured to casing 10, the weight 32 resting on ledge 9 and straddlingthe housing of motor 11. Casing 10 has a recessed platform 33 (FIGS. land 4) which receives a projection 34 (FIG. l) of member 32. Theopposite end of mem'ber 32 has a screw 35 to engage casing 10 andthereby secure the member rigidly to the casing. The member 32 is, forexample, of metal and relatively heavy. The member 32 is readilyattached to, and removed lfrom, casing 10.

When iioor scrubbing extra weight is required and at the same time water(with or without soap or detergent) is also required. These tworequirements are met in the manner of FIG. 5. A water tank 36 has askirt 37 provided with a projection and a screw as described ".9 J forthe member 33. The tank may thus be mounted securely upon casing 10, torest on the marginal ledge- 9 and straddle the housing of motor 11; theWeight of the tank, and its contents, applying the scrubbing brushestothe iloor with additional pressure. A hose 38 carries the water ontothe oor. A tap 39 controls the flow of Water.

The weight 32 is in greater part around the upstandingA part 52 so thatwhen the weight is tted the height of the mass is not greatly increasedso that the stability of the apparatus referred to above is notimpaired. This is also so in the main when using tank 36 because thegreatest volume of Water (and therefore the greatest weight) is aroundthe motor housing part 52.

The Wheels 40 enable the machine to be Wheeled over the floor when notin use.

Obviously a space is provided between the periphery of the 'brush 29 orother element and the inside of skirt 25 to permit the eccentric rotarymovement of the brush Without engagement of the brush With the skirt.

I claim:

A oor maintenance machine comprising in combination: a casing having agenerally fiat annular top portion yand a peripheral skirt portiondepending from said top portion; a generally cylindrical motor housingdisposed about a vertical axis at the center of said top portion, saidmotor housing having an upstanding part extending above said top portionand a depending part extending below said top portion, said upstandingand depending parts being substantially equal in size; an electric motorpositioned in and substantially lilling said housing, said motor havinga vertical shaft; an annular Wall portion directed inwardly of saidskirt portion, said Wall portion being spaced below said top portion todefine with said top portion, said skirt portion and said motor housingdepending part, a chamber having a circular air inlet; a

suction fan rotor carried at the lower end of said motorY shaftimmediately belo-W said depending part, said fan rotor being cup shapedand at least partially enclosing the depending part of said cylindricalmotor housing; an eccentrie lboss formed on the underside of said rotor;a carrier `for a oor-maintenance element mounted on said boss for freerotation thereabout; and a detachable weight resting symmetrically onsaid annular top portion of the casing at positions laterally of saidupstanding part of the motor housing, the gravity center of the motorand of the detachable Weight thereby being low in relation to thefloor-maintenance element carrier.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

